Blood must be spilled
by Nimue the Gray
Summary: Prussia is dissolved but not gone and it's better to fight for the Soviet Union than to just fade away. Russia/Prussia
1. Chapter 1

_**"Battle doesn't need a purpose; the battle is its own purpose. You don't ask why a plague spreads or a field burns. Don't ask why I fight."**_  
_Tvtopes associates Prussia with the trope Blood Knight and that in combination with a kink meme request is where this came from..._

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Russia had dragged off Prussia to execute him, with the blessing of the other allies, yet here Prussia is, handcuffed and a bit beaten up but alive in Moscow. Russia and his boss fight over him, almost getting physical. Prussia would be amused of it wasn't for the creepy way Stalin looks at him and he is worried about what they will do to him before they kill him. He is ready to die, if they put him in front of a firing squad he can take it, he wouldn't break down. But considering how they hate Germany and his boss they most likely plan to take it out of him instead. Prussia knows very well about the Red Army's brutality. They might keep him alive for years before they tire of him.

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Stalin ultimately wins the fight by flattering Russia into submission. A good choice considering how it would be almost impossible for a human to win in a physical fight against a nation. Prussia is brought to a cell where he to his surprise isn't tortured, starved or anything else. Just bored.

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Russia comes by every now and then to look at him with an unreadable expression. Prussia yells at him but Russia just smiles distantly, calling him his caged bird and disappears again.

It's Russia's boss who wants to talk and that is against all unwritten rules. Nation deal with each other without the involvement of bosses.

"Tell me about your brother," Stalin says.

"I'm not telling you anything about him," Prussia says. He's not going to give Russia and his boss ammunition to use against his brother. "You have to torture me first."

"I told you, I am not planning to hurt you. Tell me something else then."

"Is this some kind of Scheherazade thing where you keep me alive as long as I'm entertaining?"

But in the end Prussia is bored and loves attention. He talks about how he helped America train before the revolution and the disjointed story of how he fought off France, Austria and Russia, all at once. Prussia begins to suspect that Stalin is a little bit in love with the myth of the Prussian militarism and awesomeness.

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"Why haven't I faded?" Prussia wonders at one of Russia's rare visits. Stalin stays at a comfortable distance at the other side of the bars but Russia gets close, touches him and his things and it makes Prussia really nervous.

"As long as someone remembers Prussia you will not fade, don't worry, countries almost never fade. But let us say I would for example, say shot you," Russia says. For emphasis he takes a gun from his coat and presses the barrel against Prussia's temple. "Then you would not recover because you are not immortal anymore."

"I-I think I get the point."

Russia caresses Prussia's face with the gun before he puts it away. Prussia dares to breathe again.

"I think we should have done that," Russia continues. "But my boss has such an disturbing crush on you."

"Hey, your boss understands the awesomeness that is Prussia."

"You are nothing anymore," Russia says. "How awesome could it have been?"

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Russia refuses to give Prussia anything but the guards have apparently been told to give him what he asks for unless it has sharp edges. Prussia is frustrated and lonely but overall it could have been so much worse.

"Do you really want to be trapped here forever?" Stalin asks him.

"No, I want to go home and if you let me out I would."

"Everyone wants you dead and if they found out you were alive they would finish you off."

"My brother would help me."

"I wouldn't count on that. But fine, let us assume that your brother is willing to help you. Do you truly think he could? America wants you dead and your brother does not have the power to oppose him. I do."

Prussia stares at Russia's boss and hates him a little bit for being right.

"So I'm stuck here forever no matter what I think about it."

"You can help us instead. It is a shame for someone like you to waste away in a cell."

"I'm not going to help you fight my brother."

"Germany is yesterday's news. Why would I want to hurt him?"

Prussia knows Stalin is lying about that part, both he and Russia hate Germany.

"America is the enemy now, the one who wanted to dissolve you and control everything he has no business poking his nose into."

That on the other hand sounds reasonable.

"What do you expect me to do about that?"

"Help train our troops. That is what you used to do."

"I can do that," Prussia agrees and wonders what he is getting himself into. "But I'm not hurting Germany. The rest of the world... Well, I don't really care."

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"Do you have a preference for a name I can actually write down on official papers?" Stalin asks.

"My human name is Gilbert, go with that."

"You have human names? Russia never told me that."

"Russia's name is Ivan," Prussia says and hopes it will annoy Russia to be called that by his boss. "Ivan Braginski."

Prussia gets put in charge of training up special forces that possess a great tolerance for weirdness. He is amazed by the level of trust that Stalin put in him. What if he was to run off and steal much weapons as he can carry? He doesn't, the truth is that he's nowhere to run. Being a fugitive nation in a world that doesn't want him seems like a much worse faith than to be a Russian officer.

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It actually isn't half bad being Gilbert instead of Prussia for a while. Even if his new guys are Russians they are soldiers first and Prussia loves to be back in the game. They call him albino freak behind is back in the beginning, until he proves that his methods work and his skills are unmatched. Everyone knows 'Gilbert' has a special position and a mysterious past. The stories about his background are endless and become more and more insane. The latest one he heard is about Gilbert the turncoat nazi-vampire. Prussia loves it and dresses in black for an entire week to give it more credibility. He even puts on his iron cross again, beneath his shirt so it can be glimpsed every now and then.

"Is that really yours?" one of his soldiers eventually asks him.

"Who knows?" Prussia says. "Perhaps I took it from a fallen enemy as a trophy."

"No," the Russian says. "I don't believe that, not the way you handle it."

"I was a Teutonic knight," Prussia says. "Nazi bastards stole our symbols."

His Russian companion rolls his eyes and wonders if there is a difference. But the rumor about Gilbert the fallen Teutonic Knight cursed with immortality gains some popularity.

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They try to force him to be East Germany but Prussia refuses, no matter how good it would feel to be a real nation again.

"I'm not going to hurt my brother," Prussia says. "That was my only condition."

Surprisingly Russia supports him.

"Do you hate me less now?" Prussia wonders when they are alone.

"No," Russia says. "Remember that my boss is mortal. I want you close when his time is over."


	2. Chapter 2

Prussia remembers Russia's threats when Russia comes to inspect his work. He hopes Russia is impressed, he has worked hard and he likes what he is doing. Perhaps Russia will allow him to continue even when a new boss replaces the old if he tries to keep calm and submissive. But that's not Prussia's natural behavior and it's very hard for him to keep up.

Russia makes a snide remark about how Prussia has never once used his right to execute or deport traitors and wonders if he has gone weak.

"You bastard," Prussia explodes. He is so tired of the paranoia that stops him from doing his job properly. "We're supposed to lead our people, not fucking kill them. Shut the fuck up, no one is going to send my men to Siberia!"

"Your men?" Russia says in a dangerous tone. Luckily they are alone, Russia wouldn't have cared if they had an audience when he whips Prussia across the face with his gun. "My children have a long history of being untrustworthy and you think you can change that in a few years?"

Prussia bites back all the insults he wants to scream. It might not be just him Russia ends up punishing.

Russia lift him from the floor and brings him into the bedroom.

"Complain to the boss if you dare," he says before he throws Prussia face down on the mattress. Of course Prussia won't, being used by the enemy is against everything the Prussian myth stands for. Russia is more careful than he dared to hope for, perhaps because Prussia won't heal as fast anymore. There is no point fighting against the Soviet Union when he is just Gilbert. Prussia forces himself to be still and takes it without protests. Russia doesn't care about his pleasure and Prussia is almost grateful, the only thing that could make this worse would be if his own body betrayed him as well.

"It's for your own good," Russia says when he is satisfied. "Remember you belong to me, bosses come and go but I remain."

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"Let me contact my brother," Prussia asks the next morning, throwing his last dignity aside. "Please. He isn't going to tell anyone."

"No."

"Why? I've done everything you asked."

"My boss would make some excuse but I'll just tell you the truth. I hate Germany, it amuses me to see the look in his eyes when I tell him you cried before I killed you."

Prussia looks down and hates Russia beyond words.

"If you try to contact him without my permission I will begin to deport or execute everyone you care about and because I don't have the time to figure out who those people are I'll just deport everyone you have been in contact with. Contra-revolutionaries need to be dealt with through any means necessary and I have the authority to do so."

"I will not try to contact Germany," Prussia says in defeat. Standing up against Russia has become so hard now when he has something to lose again.

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Stalin dies and Prussia locks himself in his room where he can't stop shaking. Even if Stalin was supposed to have been evil and crazy and more he understood the Prussian awesomeness. On an instinctive level he got what no one else did, that Prussia needs no more reason to fight than the fire needs a reason to burn. That he could be trusted with weapons and responsibility even if he had been the enemy not long ago. Now Prussia is at the mercy of Russia instead.

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When Russia turns his attention to Prussia again Prussia has made some promises to himself. He is going to absolutely everything to make stop Russia from starting up purges, no matter how degrading. He'll throw himself at Russia's feet in front of the entire army if he has to. Prussia can't stand the thought of his men dying just because the boss he barley acknowledged as his once fucked Russia over.

Russia inspects his trainees without showing much emotion and says it looks satisfying. Prussia breathes out a little. There will be a price for this mercy to pay later, Prussia has no doubt.

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They have dinner together later that day and Russia tells him about the latest developments in Moscow. The new boss has no interest in him and doesn't even know what he truly is.

"What happens now?" Prussia asks.

"I can still use you," Russia says. "When you stop being useful I will kill you."

Nothing horrible happens and nothing more is asked of him. Russia leaves Prussia unharmed and confused and returns to his mansion.

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Prussia gets moved into active battle. It feels like a reward even if Russia tries to make it sound like a punishment. Russia says being Stalin's pet will get him no favors anymore. Now when the man is dead it's more likely to make him end up in a ditch somewhere. Prussia fears he is right but the soldiers he has trained are loyal to him even if they currently think he is a genetically enhanced clone.

He fights where he is sent, mostly in the east because that is safer, safer in the meaning that he isn't going to be recognized as a nation. The places don't matter, only the survival of his own men and the success of his own side whose purpose he doesn't even believe in.

Russia wonders why he fights for the motherland when he curses communism as often as he can and dares without being executed for contra-revolutionary behavior.

"Battle doesn't need a purpose, the battle is its own purpose," Prussia says. "I'll fight for you as long as you need it but you shouldn't need to ask me why."

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_Thanks again Ivanika. I don't know why Stalin keeps wanting to appear in my stories, he's like the BBEG lurking in the background of Russia's Soviet madness. I also kind of imagine after that final canal scene in the manga Stalin would have to sweet talk Russia pretty impressively to not have his arms ripped off and be beaten to death with them.  
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	3. Chapter 3

Once Prussia returns from a war they are losing with a bullet in his stomach. One of the nurses tells him that a Ivan Braginski has contacted the hospital and will arrive to check on his health tomorrow. Prussia can't sleep, he lies awake worried over what Russia will do to him for failing. He heard Russia is skilled at torture even if he has been lucky enough to experience very little of it. He has seen the Baltic countries, even Lithuania, tremble from a mere look from Russia. Perhaps it isn't even him Russia is going to torture for his failure and that's the worst thought of all.

Finally Prussia falls asleep due to either exhaustion or medication. He wakes up when a hand strokes his hair.

"You look better than I thought," Russia says.

Prussia says nothing and waits in resignation for the explosion that never comes.

"We can't win them all," Russia continues. "You did what you could. Be more careful, you are not immortal anymore. But you heal faster than you should. Perhaps you truly are one with Russia now. Wouldn't that be great?"

"I serve the Soviet Union but I'm _not_ one with you," Prussia dares to protest.

"I made you one with me long ago," Russia replies with a smile.

Prussia's own men visit him at the hospital too and his quick recovery helps building the legend of Gilbert.

"I can only be killed by silver bullets," he claims and they almost believe him.

He wonders if he is truly one with Russia, if there is anything of Prussia left. He decides there is, he makes the Kingdom of Prussia live again every time he installs Prussian values in his Russian soldiers.

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There is another war he does win and Russia congratulates him.

"I couldn't have done this without you."

"Can I call my brother?"

"No," Russia says without further explanations.

Russia brings Prussia back with him to his mansion and this time he lets Prussia do whatever he wants instead of forcing him down. He merely looks amused when Prussia touches him, moving to give Prussia better access when he grows bolder and his hands begins to travel down the larger nation's back. Prussia doesn't bother to be careful, Russia is a real nation and heals quickly. Russia seems satisfied enough anyway.

"You are one with Russia no matter if you admit it or not."

"Never," Prussia says but he can tell something has changed. Perhaps it's him.

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Eventually the day comes when Russia doesn't need a blood knight at the front of his army anymore. The Soviet Union falls and Russia can no longer afford to match America's military might. There are no more brutal battles for Prussia to fight, not when Russia's bosses try to become something different than the blood stained Soviet Union.

"What do I do now?" Prussia wonders.

"I don't need you anymore," Russia says and Prussia closes his eyes, waiting for the execution of death sentence that has been hanging over his head so long that he stopped caring. He hopes Russia will put the bullet in his brain quickly. "Go home to your brother."

Prussia blinks, he must have misheard. Russia repeats himself and Prussia still doesn't dare to believe.

"No one cares about Prussia anymore," Russia says. "Tell them I kept you locked into my basement, tell them whatever you like, they will believe it because everyone knows I'm insane. But if I were you I would not tell them that you fought them at every opportunity for no other reason than that you wanted to."

"Thank you," Prussia says and wonders what he has done to deserve mercy from the nation who claims to have none.

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Prussia feels more lost than free. He always imagined going down with the Soviet Union, it would be somehow fitting. It has been him drenched in the blood of the enemies and traitors to Soviet rather than Russia for a long time now.

He has gathered more things than he realized along the years. Most of it he gives away but keeps his Soviet awards, orders and decorations. He doesn't love them as much as the iron cross but they are still important to him, proof that he is still awesome and his battle prowess isn't just a thing of the past.

To his surprise people throw him a goodbye party. It makes him realize he does have friends. The other officers he drinks and chats with evenings when he is off duty like him and they have since long stopped caring about that is obviously isn't quite human. Prussia promises to keep in touch and perhaps even one day end all rumors by telling them what he actually is. He says they are never going to believe it though.

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When Prussia finally stands outside his brother's house he hesitates. What is Germany going to say? So much has changed during these years when he has been gone. Does Germany even want his brother back again or would it just be an inconvenience now when he is supposed to be a peaceful nation? Prussia knocks anyway and when Germany open he first stares in shock. Then he throws himself around his brother's neck and Prussia drops his bags as he almost loses balance.

"I can't believe you are alive!" Germany says in a thick voice.

"If you cry I'm going to kick your ass," Prussia says. He almost says it in Russian. "Remember who raised you, don't you dare to embarrass me."

Germany laughs instead and hugs him harder. Prussia wonders how he could ever think he wouldn't be welcome back. He's not going to tell his brother everything, Russia's advice was sound, but he is going to tell him enough to make him stop worry.


	4. Epilogue

Prussia doesn't like the other nations very much, he never has, and now he has even less in common with them. His brother is the exception, no matter how it drives Prussia crazy to see him act like an infatuated schoolgirl with Italy.

It makes Russia laugh when Prussia claims to hate him too, because Prussia always picks up the phone to chat when he calls. Not to mention that Prussia keeps in touch with his Russian friends as he promised. Some of them are now in a position to put the pieces together and realize what he actually is.

"One of my neighbors has been very annoying lately," Russia says. "Want to come along, for old time's sake?"

"Maybe," Prussia says but Russia can hear the longing in his voice.

"I'll send someone to pick you up. Vladimir says he looks forward to see you again too."

Prussia smiles to himself, it does sound fun. Then he calls Germany and says he's not going to come and see the Olympics with him as promised. He has some other things he needs to do.

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_Thanks for reading and please review if you have the time :)  
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